Side to Side vs. Front to Back

[RobLV1]

One of the many differences between house bowlers and tournament players is how they choose to approach the lanes. House bowlers tend to look at the lanes from side to side, while tournament players look at the lanes from front to back. To illustrate, I was practicing with a couple of friends this morning and one of them, a 220 average house bowler, commented that he really doesn't like to bowl at this particular house (house B) because the lanes are much drier than they are at house A where he prefers to bowl. Here's the issue: house B doesn't use less oil than house A, they put the oil down using a 37' house pattern, rather than a 40' pattern like house A. This results in misses to the right burning up early and not getting back to the pocket, or arriving DOA leaving weak tens, and misses left not finding extra oil like they do on the 40' pattern and hooking through the nose. This happens because the bowler never changes the line he plays. While shorter sport patterns usually require elite players to play further outside, shorter house patterns usually require house bowlers to move further inside to create area for their misses. Does this make sense to you?

[Mike White]

One of the many differences between house bowlers and tournament players is how they choose to approach the lanes. House bowlers tend to look at the lanes from side to side, while tournament players look at the lanes from front to back. To illustrate, I was practicing with a couple of friends this morning and one of them, a 220 average house bowler, commented that he really doesn't like to bowl at this particular house (house B) because the lanes are much drier than they are at house A where he prefers to bowl. Here's the issue: house B doesn't use less oil than house A, they put the oil down using a 37' house pattern, rather than a 40' pattern like house A. This results in misses to the right burning up early and not getting back to the pocket, or arriving DOA leaving weak tens, and misses left not finding extra oil like they do on the 40' pattern and hooking through the nose. This happens because the bowler never changes the line he plays. While shorter sport patterns usually require elite players to play further outside, shorter house patterns usually require house bowlers to move further inside to create area for their misses. Does this make sense to you?

There is nothing outside on a 40' THS that isn't outside on a 37' THS.

So if a mistake to the right "burns up" on 37 feet, it would "burn up" on 40 feet as well.

The difference is on 37 feet, the ball makes it's move towards the pocket 3 feet earlier.

That makes the bowler either figure out a way to get 3 more feet of push past the end of the oil, or deal with a lower angle of entry.

House bowlers want all the help they can get, and oil length means hold area.

Short sport patterns like Wolf aren't played outside because of the short length, it's because the pattern tends to be heavy oil 5 to 5.

A good player could play inside or out, but since he's up against other good players, he won't be competitive when they are playing the hold area, and he isn't.

It's the same for the 52' badger. They can play outside, but since there is a mass of oil 15 to 15, they can't compete outside when others are playing the hold.

[RobLV1]

House bowlers want all the help they can get, and oil length means hold area.

That's exactly right. My point is that when the oil is applied in a Christmas tree pattern as it usually is on a house shot, the taper of the pattern starts three feet sooner on a 37' pattern than it does on a 40' pattern. In order to take advantage of the hold inside, bowlers need to play further in on the 37' pattern than they do on the 40' pattern.

[John Anderson]

That's exactly right. My point is that when the oil is applied in a Christmas tree pattern as it usually is on a house shot, the taper of the pattern starts three feet sooner on a 37' pattern than it does on a 40' pattern. In order to take advantage of the hold inside, bowlers need to play further in on the 37' pattern than they do on the 40' pattern.

Playing further in is definitely true and I believe you are meaning to move your whole line in, but it's possible to just move your down lane target right and get a larger overall hook if it's drier. Obviously, if you already are targeting the 5 board down lane, this doesn't really apply since you can't throw much further right and expect a completely different reaction. Of course though, some will consider what I just mentioned playing the same line, thus it doesn't end up working very well for very long.

[Amyers]

Playing further in is definitely true and I believe you are meaning to move your whole line in, but it's possible to just move your down lane target right and get a larger overall hook if it's drier. Obviously, if you already are targeting the 5 board down lane, this doesn't really apply since you can't throw much further right and expect a completely different reaction. Of course though, some will consider what I just mentioned playing the same line, thus it doesn't end up working very well for very long.

If you move farther out right (for a right hander) with your target on a shorter house pattern you just exposing your ball to the dry that much earlier and longer doesn't necessarily mean a larger hook, at some point the balls going to burn up and fail to hook back to the pocket or hit like a toasted marshmallow. If you try that on a sport pattern your going to be throwing a lot of balls in the gutter as on a lot of sport patterns there is actually heavier oil out there.

[Jessiewoodard57]

A few weeks ago I was watching as they oiled the lanes that we would be using for league that night. I noticed they where only doing 20 feet of the heads. I normally would use either my Score or my Crux Pearl, both of these balls would have made the move toward the pocket way too soon. I decided to switch to my Ride but finally settled on my Taboo spare ball. I ended up having a decent night whereas many bowlers where complaining about the lack of oil down lane. Since they oil the lanes about an hour before league play I now make it a point to be early and eat my dinner there while watching them dress the lanes.

BTW someone on here I owe a big thanks to. I use to miss a lot of 10 pins trying to use a straight spare ball but I followed your coach's advice and from the 39 board I use the 3rd arrow with my Crux. The 6 and 10 pin are no longer a problem . Thank you for sharing that tip!

[Mike White]

That's exactly right. My point is that when the oil is applied in a Christmas tree pattern as it usually is on a house shot, the taper of the pattern starts three feet sooner on a 37' pattern than it does on a 40' pattern. In order to take advantage of the hold inside, bowlers need to play further in on the 37' pattern than they do on the 40' pattern.

All that help is exactly what is wrong with the current game of bowling.

You don't have to be accurate, oil with guide the ball.

You don't have to release the ball well, the coverstock will make the ball roll.

Bowling used to be about finesse and accuracy, now it can be played like miniature golf.



The guy thinks he made a great shot, rather than realizing that the hard work was done by the designer that made that shot possible.

[ChuckR]

All that help is exactly what is wrong with the current game of bowling.

You don't have to be accurate, oil with guide the ball.

You don't have to release the ball well, the coverstock will make the ball roll.


Bowling used to be about finesse and accuracy, now it can be played like miniature golf.

That is sad to hear. I don't get many hole in ones there.
Of course, a clean coverstock vs one with a lot of oil buildup will react differently also.

[Mike White]

An even better example of the help.

[RobLV1]

Thank you so much, Mike, for hijacking this thread. Here's the deal: modern reactive balls are not going away, and the USBC is not going to start mandating real lane conditions as long as they are sharing a breakroom with the BPAA guys in Arlington. Rather than lamenting the passing of "real" bowling, how about allowing me to help the people who want to improve using modern balls and the lane conditions that they have to play. Learning how to use modern aggressive bowling balls is not difficult, if one is willing to accept the fact that things have changed and bowlers have to change to keep up.